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What are the signs and symptoms of Polycystic kidney disease?

Signs and symptoms vary greatly from person to person. But affected individuals typically develop multiple cysts in both kidneys, which impair their ability to filter waste products from the blood. Later in the disease, the cysts cause the kidneys to become enlarged and can lead to kidney failure. Cysts may also develop in other organs, particularly the liver.[1]

Frequent complications of polycystic kidney disease include dangerously high blood pressure (hypertension), severe pain in the back or sides, blood in the urine (hematuria), recurrent urinary tract infections, kidney stones, and heart valve abnormalities. People with this condition also have an increased risk an aortic aneurysm in the brain (an abnormal bulging of the large blood vessel at the base of the brain). Aneurysms can be life-threatening if they tear or rupture.[1]

Last updated: 12/8/2011

The Human Phenotype Ontology provides the following list of signs and symptoms for Polycystic kidney disease.
If the information is available, the table below includes how often the symptom is seen in people with this condition.
You can use the MedlinePlus Medical Dictionary to look up
the definitions for these medical terms.

Signs and Symptoms

Approximate number of patients (when available)

Polycystic kidney dysplasia

90%

Anemia

50%

Cystic liver disease

50%

Hematuria

50%

Hypertension

50%

Nephrolithiasis

50%

Proteinuria

50%

Renal insufficiency

50%

Abnormality of prenatal development or birth

7.5%

Abnormality of the pancreas

7.5%

Abnormality of the respiratory system

7.5%

Aneurysm

7.5%

Dilatation of the ascending aorta

7.5%

Hydrocephalus

7.5%

Recurrent fractures

7.5%

Reduced bone mineral density

7.5%

Sarcoma

7.5%

Autosomal dominant inheritance

-

Cerebral aneurysm

-

Colonic diverticulosis

-

Hepatic cysts

-

Heterogeneous

-

Increased prevalence of valvular disease

-

Last updated: 8/1/2015

The Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) has collected information on how often a sign or symptom occurs in a condition. Much of this information comes from Orphanet, a European rare disease database. The frequency of a sign or symptom is usually listed as a rough estimate of the percentage of patients who have that feature.

The frequency may also be listed as a fraction. The first number of the fraction is how many people had the symptom, and the second number is the total number of people who were examined in one study. For example, a frequency of 25/25 means that in a study of 25 people all patients were found to have that symptom. Because these frequencies are based on a specific study, the fractions may be different if another group of patients are examined.

Sometimes, no information on frequency is available. In these cases, the sign or symptom may be rare or common.